Quick and easy time logging with Emacs Org mode clocking

I wanted to do an audit of how I spent my time. Tracking time in an Excel sheet doesn’t really cut it, so I appropriated Org mode’s clocking feature for it.

Now I can create fancy plots like this (I’m showing just one week but you can easily show more):

I use a separate Emacs process for the time log to separate it from clocking other tasks I work on. Add this to your .bashrc:

# Titles (https://superuser.com/questions/395911/how-to-set-the-title-of-the-tab-in-terminal-app-to-the-remote-server-im-logged)
function tabname { printf "\e]1;$1\a"; }

# Timelog
alias timeloggui="open -n -a Emacs.app --args -Q -l ~/unix/src/timelog/timelog.el"
alias timelog="tabname timelog; emacs -Q -l ~/unix/src/timelog/timelog.el; tabname"

You need to configure some paths. In timelog.el change the variables:

(defvar vr/timelog-data-path "~/org/habits/timelog"
  "Path to timelog data")

(defvar vr/timelog-src-path "~/unix/src/timelog"
  "Path to timelog source code")

To configure the plots, change the variables in timelog.r:

# Number of weeks
weeks <- 4

# Order of categories
order <- c("Schlafen", "Essen",
           "Arbeit", "Pause",
           "Review", "Erledigung", "Projekt",
           "Familie", "Date", "Freunde", "Ausgehen",
           "Fotografie", "Beauty",
           "Pendeln", "Prokrastination")

# Colors
colors <- c("steelblue1",     # Schlafen
            "steelblue4",     # Essen
            "gold",           # Arbeit
            "goldenrod3",     # Pause
            "darkseagreen4",  # Review
            "darkseagreen3",  # Erledigung
            "darkseagreen1",  # Projekt
            "darkorchid4",    # Familie
            "darkorchid2",    # Date
            "orchid2",        # Freunde
            "plum1",          # Ausgehen
            "tomato",         # Fotografie
            "pink",           # Beauty
            "white",          # Pendeln
            "black")          # Prokrastination